OPINION
mAt
CoCh
Editor
there's was a great moment during
sunday's post-race press conference
when sebastian Vettel picked up Lewis
Hamilton's winners trophy and ran his
critical eye over it.
The trophy for winning the British
Grand Prix is unique in that it doesn't
belong to the driver. Instead he gets his
name inscribed on it, along with all past
winners of the race, much in the way the
Stanley Cup in ice hockey is. Still, the
grand, golden chalice is one of the most
coveted on the calendar - not because
of what it is but because of what it
represents.
It's a connection to the likes of Jim
Clark, who won the British Grand Prix
five times (four in a row), to the likes of
Nigel Mansell and Jackie Stewart. It's a
part of Formula 1 heritage and tradition, a
legacy of sorts in a sport where things are
becomming ever more transient.
Call me old-fashioned but I for one love
the history of the sport. My bookshelves
are filled with tomes on the likes of Mike
Hawthorn or Juan-Manuel Fangio and
even stretch back to the sports pre-war
era. Motorsport is rich with history, and
that's not something many sports can
boast.
So it saddens me to learn historic,
traditional events like the Italian Grand
Prix are under threat. The Italian Grand
Prix is so much more than Italy's round of
the world championship, it is a celebration
of everything Italian in motorsport. The
fabled Monza circuit is a Formula 1 fan's
equivilent of the Temple Mount, Golgotha
or Grand Mosque. Monza is other-worldly.
What makes matters worse is the
race isn't under threat because there's
no interest, or the circuit is falling apart,
but because not enough bank notes
have thus far been found to stuff in the
envelope labelled 'For Bernie'.
Of course I can see Bernie
Ecclestone's side of things. His job is to
extract maximum milk for minimum moo
from each and every cash cow in the
paddock. He's got bosses to answer for
and they're interested in the sport not for
its heritage but for its earning capacity.
So we can't really blame Bernie, he's
just doing his job, but we can blame the
sport's owner, CVC.
One interesting suggestion put to me
a week or two back was much like the
financial arrangement for some of the
prestigious teams. It's widely known
Ferrari and a handful of other old-timers
on the F1 grid get extra payments
because of their value to the sport, so
why not extend the same to the circuits?
Silverstone has been on and off the
calendar since it held the first world
championship Formula 1 race in 1950 and
Monza only missed 1980. So if the sport
gives breaks to McLaren and Williams,
who only joined the grid in the 1960s
and 70s, why not put something in place
to recognise some of these important
events?
Ultimately the difference to the sports
bottom dollar would be comparatively
small. In return it generates a huge
amount of goodwill among the sport
and with the fans. It would enable
some of these old events to sell out,
like Silverstone did on the weekend, by
allowing promoters to charge reasonable
ticket prices.
There are so many potentially positive
knock-ons by giving some of these
circuits a break. Hell, it might even mean
television figures rise, and if we're honest
that's where the big bucks are anyway.
18
GPWEEK.com // 18
GPWEEK.com //
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